History

Unlike Rúmil, Fëanor considered vowels as indepedent sounds and not just “colours” of the consonants, so he devised the “full writing” (Quanta Sarmë).
However he also used a more 'conservative' system which seem to have been proved far more popular. Fëanor held the idea of syllabic analysis of the words by the Sarati, and made also use of signs for vowels (instead of the full letters).

When the Noldor rebelled and came to Middle-earth, they adapted their writing for the new languages they learned. This led to the Mode of Beleriand, obviously a Quanta Sarmë modification for writing Sindarin. It is also possible that the Tengwar influenced the evolution of the Cirth, mainly in their shape and arrangement.

Tengwar are known to be used on Númenor by Men during the Second Age. In Eregion the Elves used new 'General' Modes of the Tengwar that could be used for a variety of languages, and it was in such a mode that the Inscription of the One Ring was formed.

Use

Structure

The shape of the Tengwar were unirofmely consisted of two elements, the telco (stem) to which is attached a lúva (bow). The telco could be normal, raised, shortened or heightened. The lúva would be single or doubled, and these could be open or closed. All the above combinations can create 31 different shapes of letters. These shapes mirrored phonological significances: telcor determined how the sound was articulated, and the lúvar where in the mouth it was made.

According to their shape, the 32 different shapes could be arranged and presented consistently on a table